In Stonespine Architects, you play as minotaurs competing to build the best dungeon, flipping the classic Greek myth in an amusing way.
Players draft cards, stock up on monsters and traps, and work to fulfill the requirements on challenge cards, all in an attempt to build the best dungeon ever in this quick playing game set in the Roll Player universe from Thunderworks Games.
Disclosure: We have to thank Thunderworks Games for providing us with a review copy of this dungeon building card game. Some links in this post are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. We get a small commission from people using these links and there is no additional cost to you.
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What is Stonespine Architects?
Stonespine Architects: A Roll Player Tale is a one to five player, card drafting, dungeon building, board game from Thunderworks Games that plays in less than an hour. It comes from designer Jordy Adan, who also designed the Cartographers series of games, also published by Thunderworks.
If you’re not already familiar with it, Cartographers is a flip and draw fantasy game that all of us enjoy quite a bit. If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to check out our Cartographers Heroes review.
Stonespine Architects shares the Ulos setting with Cartographers, and has a few other minor similarities, but it is very much its own game. Players of both games will notice some recurring iconography, something I love to see in games from the same line or universe.
In Stonespine Architects, each player builds a dungeon, in the form of a four by four grid of cards, built one row at a time over four rounds. Between rounds, players go shopping for dungeon features like traps and monsters as well as selecting challenge cards that present scoring opportunities. Points are also scored by building according to your blueprint card and a shared public goal card.
The component quality in this dungeon-builder ranges from good to excellent. The game comes in a smaller sized box and is quite portable. It doesn’t take up much room on the table, either. Inside the box you’ll find more than 180 cards, 20 screen-printed wooden markers, and more than 60 punchboard tokens.
The art and iconography in Stonespine Architects are excellent. It’s very easy to clearly see the pathways and features on each dungeon card as well as being able to easily tell the various monsters and traps apart. Things like the silk screened wooden dungeon entrances and exits and player markers are just icing on the cake.
One awesome bonus we didn’t expect when we picked this game up is that it includes a plastic resource tray. This helps with setup and teardown, and also makes filling the market during play nice and quick.
You can get a look at all of these components in our Stonespine Architects unboxing video over on YouTube.
One last thing before I get into describing how the game plays. We originally reviewed Stonespine Architects on Episode 255 of The Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast. Feel free to check that out if you want to hear Sean and Deanna’s thoughts on the game, as well as a bit more of mine.
Building a Dungeon In Stonespine Architects
Each card in Stonespine Architects represents a single dungeon chamber and features a pathway connecting two to four exits. There are two types of chambers, cave or stone. Along each pathway, you can find up to four features, including monsters, traps, treasure chests, and reputation points. Every card also has a gold value at the bottom.
At the start of a game of Stonespine Architects, you draw a random set of market cards and fill them with market tokens. One goal card is drawn and revealed, which becomes a public objective for all players to try to compete. Each player also receives a random blueprint card which awards end game points for matching the various patterns and features shown on it.
Each round begins with players receiving a hand of five chamber cards. Each player chooses one card and places it into an open space in the current row of their dungeon. They then pass the remaining cards to an opponent, and everyone chooses another card for that same row. This continues until everyone has completed a row of four cards, with any leftover cards discarded.
After completing each row, everyone gets to go shopping! Players total the gold values at the bottom of the four cards they just played, then add one additional gold for each treasure chest anywhere in their growing dungeon. They then spend that gold on items from the market.
Each market card holds two groups of tokens, each set having one to three individual items. Each group has a different price, and when purchasing tokens players must take all of the tokens in a group. These tokens include all of the same features that are found on the cards: traps, monsters, treasure chests, and reputation tokens. On top of that, there are also secret passages which can create a pathway between two cards, or between a card and the edge of the dungeon, where one doesn’t already exist.
When shopping, the player with the most money gets to purchase first, reducing their gold total based on what was bought, and then the player who has the most money left after that adjustment shops next (which could be the same player).
When a player is out of money, or if they choose not to purchase anything, they then pass and take one of the available challenge cards. These cards show various requirements on them and are the key to getting points in Stonespine Architects. Examples include, earning three points for each goblin in a row, having pairs of slimes and oozes, getting points for the number of traps along your longest path, etc. By the time the game ends, each player will have collected a total of three challenge cards.
The order in which players pass also determines turn priority for the next round. This is used to break ties throughout the game, such as when players have the same amount of gold during shopping or when challenge cards reward the most or least of a thing.
At the end of the fourth round everyone will have a complete dungeon. Players then total the points earned for their three challenge cards, plus the goal card revealed at the start of the game, their final position on the priority track, any reputation points on their chamber cards (including purchased tokens), how well their finished dungeon matches their blueprint card, and how many rooms connect to their dungeon entrance and exit.
When playing Stonespine Architects with two players, the drafting rules change slightly. You still get five cards at the start of each round. You still chose one to play into your dungeon, but you then discard a card before passing cards on to your opponent, and after passing both players draw a new card from the deck. This introduces a bit of randomness that makes the game feel a little less cutthroat at two.
There are also solo rules in Stonespine Architects. These have you challenging Jael, an advisor to the Queen sent to check on your progress. Jael collects chamber cards and market tokens but doesn’t actually build a dungeon, doesn’t have a blueprint to follow, and doesn’t collect challenge cards. Instead there’s a deck of cards you will draw from each round that will tell you what card he collects, how much gold he has, what he will buy, and what he will score at the end of the game. If you find Jael easy to beat, the game also includes some cards you can swap out in his deck to make things more difficult.
Now I worry my description may have made the game sound more complicated than it really is. Stonespine Architects is a quick to teach game where the mechanics tie in well with the theme. This is a game that’s easy to learn and to remember because all of the actions you are taking just make sense. In addition, there aren’t a lot of decision points in the game. The hardest part is learning the icons and understanding what the challenge cards are looking for and there is a set of reference cards to help with that.
We all really enjoy drafting dungeons in Stonespine Architects
We first saw Stonespine Architects in prototype form at GAMA Expo 2024, where it immediately caught my eye. We got to try the published game later that year at Origins Game Fair where it was drawing a lot of attention. Every time we walked by the Thunderworks booth every demo table was full. Based on what we already knew, and what we saw at Origins, we agreed to review it before even trying it, and I’m glad we did.
After my first game of Stonespine Architects at a local public play event I was hooked. I went home and immediately insisted that Deanna try it with me at two players. By the end of the week, I’d already played it five times, and would have happily sat down and played more.
There’s a simplicity and elegance to the game mechanics in Stonespine Architects that make the game easy to learn and easy to remember, it has a great flow and just feels like a well balanced tight game. It just works. It’s also one of those games where you get that satisfying feeling of accomplishment. It feels like you’ve really building something by the end.
Finishing a game where you match everything on your blueprint card while also connecting every room to both your entrance and exit feels incredibly rewarding, even if you don’t finish with the most points. (I have to say, though, this is much harder than it sounds, and those secret passages can be lifesavers.)
While there’s no asymmetry at the start of Stonespine Architects there is this cool thing that develops through play based on what challenge cards players draft. Everyone is building a dungeon from the same set of cards, but each player ends up scoring those cards in completely different ways, aside from that one shared goal card from the start of the game which is always based on either having the most or the least of something.
Now this does mean that there’s a bit of a multi-player solitaire feel here, as there’s no way to directly affect any other player’s dungeon, but as a drafting game, you do have some control over what cards you are giving your opponent and playing well requires paying attention to what the other players are doing.
One decision point I really like in Stonespine Architects is when to pass in the market phase. Usually in games with markets you just spend all of your money to buy the best things you can and move on, but here the first player to pass gets their pick of all of the challenge cards. Sometimes this becomes a game of chicken where you try to judge if other players are going to buy one more thing or pass. Passing also sets priority which can be a really big thing in this game. I also appreciate that there’s always one more challenge card than players so even if you do hold off and end up last to pick you still have two choices.
Stonespine Architects is on the lighter end of the board game weight spectrum and is rather quick, with most games being under an hour, especially once players get to know the dungeon card deck. Despite this, it still very much gives you that “I played a full game” feeling. The game length seems perfect. I’ve never gotten to the end and thought, “If only I had one more round!”, nor is it over too quickly.
The biggest issue I’ve had playing Stonespine Architects is that sometimes people misunderstand one or more of the scoring aspects of the game. This is most common with people misreading a challenge card, thinking they are scoring one thing when they are actually scoring something else. I’ve also seen many people completely forget about scoring pathways at the end of the game, and there can be a big point swing between someone who does well at that versus someone who ignores it.
The most frustration I’ve seen is when a player misread their blueprint card right from the start of the game and built their dungeon completely wrong because of it. My only suggestion for all of these interpretation problems is for the player who knows the game the best to make sure to walk everyone through the goal card and through each challenge card as they come up, to make sure everyone is on the same page, and to remind people of the connectivity rules if they spot something being placed in a way that would cut off a section of the dungeon.
I think it’s pretty clear at this point that I really enjoy Stonespine Architects. When we first got this I played the heck out of it, and it continues to be a hit with our family, our game groups, and at our public play events. So far I’ve yet to meet anyone who’s grown tired of the game or the mechanics. While quick and easy there’s also a lot of variability and replayability. Each game ends up feeling unique because of the randomness of the deck and the various goal and challenge cards.
Another thing that helps this game get played as often as it does is how quick it is to set up and take down. The addition of the component tray for the market goods really helps with this.
Overall, Stonespine Architects is an easy to learn, quick to play, card game that gives you the feel of a much bigger game.
If you are a fan of the Cartographers games, I think you are going to really dig Stonespine Architects. While it’s a very different game there are some similarities, I feel you can tell that it is from the same designer. The biggest difference lies in the fact that in Cartographers everyone has the same input each turn and you are all trying to score the same features. Whereas in Stonespine you are each doing your own thing and except for one shared goal, everyone will be scoring totally different things.
I think drafting game fans should definitely check this game out. If you dig 7 Wonders or Sushi Go Party, and enjoy fantasy themes, Stonespine Architects should be a hit for you.
For everyone else, I strongly recommend giving this game a shot. Especially if you dig fantasy games, and more so if you love the idea of building a dungeon. Heck, RPG game masters might even want to pick this up as a fun way to generate inspiration for future dungeon designs.
Now if you are already of a fan of Stonespine Architects, or if you are reading this and thinking this sounds a bit too simple for me, I have exciting news. There’s already an expansion on the way, and Thunderworks told us it “has even more content than the base box.”
Stonespine Architects: Invasion lets you lead a band of heroes and invade the other players’ finished dungeons, featuring new rules for boss monsters, minions and more.
FAQs
How complicated is Stonespine Architects
Stonespine Architects is surprisingly quick to learn and play. The iconography is excellent and you can learn the game as you play for the first time. Its one of the lightest games in the Roll Player Universe series of games.
It’s maybe a small step up from 7 Wonders as far as rules complexity.
Do I need to own or have played Cartographers or Roll Player to enjoy Stonespine Architects?
Stonespine Architects is a completely stand alone game set in the world of Ulos. This is the same fantasy universe as many other games from Thunderworks Games, including Cartographers and Roll Player. There is no need to know anything about any other game to play this one.
That said, there is some overlap in game terms, iconography and of course the game setting.
How can I explore more of the World of Ulos?
Thunderworks has published a lot of games in this universe, which started with Roll Player. Other games in the series include Questline, Cartographers, Emerald Skulls, Goblin Vaults, Dawn of Ulos, Roll Player Adventures, and Lockup.
There’s also a comic book (Tales of Ulos), playing cards and more.
Find all of that here: https://thunderworksgames.com/collections/world-of-ulos-games?ref=tabletopbellhop
Stonespine Architects is one of those board games we just keep coming back to again and again. We bring it out and play it a bunch of times, highlight it at one of our local events, then put it away for a bit ,only to bring it out again a few months later.
I’ve noticed we do this a lot with games from Thunderworks. Cartographers Heroes and Emerald Skulls are two other games of theirs where I’ve found we do the same thing.
What’s your favourite game from Thunderworks? Leave a comment below!
- CALLING ASPIRING ARCHITECTS to compete in an epic dungeon-building contest beneath the Stonespine Mountains! Construct the most dangerous labyrinth.
- DRAFT CARDS to expand your dungeon tableau and fill it with devious monsters, traps, and enticing treasures!
- DESIGN YOUR DUNGEON by arranging your cards carefully, completing goals and following your blueprints.
- MAP A PATH connecting your dungeon chambers to the labyrinth’s entrance or exit to score maximum points.
